This invention relates to drum brakes and in particular to parking brake assemblies for use in drum brakes and which include an automatic latching device for latching an operating cable to a parking brake operating lever.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a parking brake assembly with an improved latching device.
Thus in accordance with the present invention there is provided a parking brake assembly which includes a lever for operation of a brake shoe to provide a parking function, the lever carrying an automatic latching device for automatically latching to the lever as end fitting on an operating cable, the assembly being characterised in that the automatic latching device comprises a flap mounted on the lever which is deflected aside by the end fitting as the cable is fed in first direction towards the lever and which latches behind an abutment on the end fitting to latch the cable to the lever so that subsequent movement of the cable in a second direction opposite to the first direction moves the lever to operate the parking function.
The flap preferably latches the cable against an edge of the lever.
The flap may be spring-biased or gravity biased towards the lever.
In a preferred arrangement an end of the lever is U-shaped in cross-section to form a channel and the flap is located adjacent one end of the channel with the cable having been fed along the channel and latched between the flap and an adjacent end edge of the channel.
The cable may be fed towards the lever through an opening in a back plate of the assembly via a guide means. The guide means may comprise a compression spring through which the cable is fed, one end of the spring being attached to the backplate and the other end to the lever.
Alternatively, the guide means may comprise a rigid tube. A compression spring may extend between an end of the tube adjacent the lever and the lever itself
The invention also provides a drum brake which includes a parking brake assembly as described above.